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Most harrowing TV/film you have ever seen?

354 replies

Greensleeves · 30/05/2022 10:28

Mine are:

Song for a Raggy Boy - beautifully made film, but I never, ever want to see it again
Sophie's Choice
Escape from Sobibor
Scum
Touching the Void

OP posts:
LadyCassandra · 31/05/2022 19:52

Precious
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - it was just such a bleak depressing ending.
The Hollyoaks male rape scene still haunts me.
12 Years a Slave
American History X
Its a Sin

i don’t watch horror movies. Ever!

selfishjeanss · 31/05/2022 19:57

The Kite Runner

a decade later and I still cannot think of ‘that’ scene without sobbing

Upsidedownagain · 31/05/2022 20:00

Threads- felt so real, I was waiting for a nuclear blast.
Schindler's List - even more moving the second time.
It's a Sin
The Remains of the Day
Gosford Park
Beginning of 'Up'

Upsidedownagain · 31/05/2022 20:01

Oh yes, and Kes.

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 31/05/2022 20:03

A Serbian Film. Horrendous

658Doyouknowwheremysparkis · 31/05/2022 20:10

No child of mine…. Child abuse based on a true story
Threads
another vote for When the Wind Blows

Whiskeypowers · 31/05/2022 20:22

Antichrist
tony
twin peaks fire walk with me

can’t see any of these here but all three left me utterly traumatised years ago to the point that I feel sick now just writing them

TossieFleacake · 31/05/2022 20:24

TuxedoJunction · 31/05/2022 06:34

Another one saying ‘Hostel’. Didn’t the Bratislavian tourist board try and take Quentin Tarantino to Court over it? I’m sure I remember reading something about it. Hardly surprising, as I remember saying to DH that I’d never want to go there. The plausibility made it so awfully real….

in a similar vain to the above is the 1970s film (with Peter Fonda), ‘Race with the Devil’. The ending is quite something.

Also agree with ‘Handmaids Tale’……. Again it’s that premise that you can see how society slid into this existence that makes it so horrific.

Hostel isn't a Quentin Tarrantino film ... its Eli Roth, who did star in Inglorious Basterds.

Apparently, he started out with the intention of Hostel being more of a documentary but he received death threats from the actual Hostel owners so he had to rework it as 'fiction'.

TossieFleacake · 31/05/2022 20:26

Sorry, I was wrong in my post above ... Tatantino did produce it but I am unsure about any threats to him.

Veralil · 31/05/2022 20:32

I was going to say that I, Daniel Blake should be compulsory viewing for all MP's.

CatsArePeople · 31/05/2022 20:35

Missing in America

limitededitionbarbie · 31/05/2022 20:41

I got an oculus virtual realty console and one of the things was 911. I watched it obv not as harrowing as real life but I came off sobbing. Just awful.

ValBiro · 31/05/2022 20:45

Waltz with Bashir - I was sobbing by the end scene where it cuts to real life footage

Maid - the Netflix series. Too close to the bone and quite triggering in places but so well written

ExistentialApathy · 31/05/2022 20:57

IllDoItButOnlyForTheAttention · 30/05/2022 10:53

Lilya 4Ever. Oh my God, beyond grim and harrowing.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilya_4-ever

Saw it when it came out and went straight to work after - felt shellshocked all shift.

This is the one for me too. Also saw it in the cinema. Devastating. Also When the Wind Blows

BlackandBlueBird · 31/05/2022 21:22

Whiskeypowers · 31/05/2022 20:22

Antichrist
tony
twin peaks fire walk with me

can’t see any of these here but all three left me utterly traumatised years ago to the point that I feel sick now just writing them

Fire Walk With Me is horrible. I loved the TV series but that film was just grim.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 31/05/2022 21:49

The Accused.

Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin · 31/05/2022 22:37

Murder in the first film with Kevin Bacon

Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin · 31/05/2022 22:53

Oh and Nil by mouth

Servalan · 31/05/2022 23:40

Salaam Bombay. That was bleak
agree with I, Daniel Blake. I was so upset and angry I had to walk it off after seeing it.
Some of the Black Mirror episodes really creep me and out and stay with me - White Bear and Shut Up and Dance in particular.

MarshaBradyo · 01/06/2022 00:01

Ok Threads was very harrowing

Have to recalibrate as that was off the scale

so sad

Dexy007 · 01/06/2022 05:57

I found the first series of the Handmaid’s Tale too much to bear during lockdown one. Could only cope with fluff such as Schitts Creek etc.

JudyGemstone · 01/06/2022 06:34

“Cucumber, the episode where the guy gets his head whacked in”

omg yes, this scene was traumatising!

I’m a huge horror fan, and watch as many horror movies as I can but that stayed with me for weeks!

Moithered · 01/06/2022 08:50

Tashface · 30/05/2022 10:39

The Father, with Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman. I don't cry but I cried at this!

I saw this in the theatre a few years ago. It was so well acted and on a topic that touches many
Cried myself stupid. Don't want to watch the film as a result!

Moithered · 01/06/2022 08:50

The Mission

Moithered · 01/06/2022 08:58

BonnesVacances · 30/05/2022 13:06

I watched a film called Where the Red Fern Grows when I was little and absolutely sobbed for days.

Audrey Rose stayed with me for a very very long time. As did La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful). I'll die before I watch that again. Absolutely heartbreaking (but deserving of its Oscar)

Where the red fern grows! Just looked that up and realised I have seen it and sobbed!

In a similar vein, there was The Yearling (Gregory Peck) which broke my heart as a child